Movies
Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ Was Going to Be a Darker Fairytale
Coppola didn’t want to remake the Disney film, that’s for sure.
While out promoting her new movie The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola took part in a special “An Evening with Sofia Coppola” event at New York City’s Film Society of Lincoln Center this past Tuesday night. During the chat, Coppola opened up about why she left Universal Pictures and Working Title’s adaptation of The Little Mermaid back in 2015.
As reported by Indiewire, Coppola told the audience that her take on The Little Mermaid “wasn’t the Disney version.” She continued, “It was actually the original fairy tale, which is much darker. I thought it would be fun to do a fairy tale. I’ve always loved fairy tales, so I was curious about doing that.”
She was of course referring to the original fairytale penned by Hans Christian Andersen, published in 1837. The tale, which was used as the basis for the iconic animated film, was a whole lot darker than what Disney turned it into – for example, the humanized mermaid is given a knife towards the end and told to kill the prince and let his blood pour down onto her feet, so that she may become a mermaid again!
So what happened with Coppola’s adaptation?
“It became too big of a scale,” she revealed. “I wanted to shoot it really underwater, which would have been a nightmare. But underwater photography is so beautiful. We even did some tests. It was not very realistic, that approach. But it was interesting to think about.”
She added, “For me, when a movie has a really large budget like that, it just becomes more about business, or business becomes a bigger element than art. When it’s smaller, there’s less people involved – it’s not so much at risk, business-wise.”
The Beguiled arrives in select theaters on June 23rd.
Movies
Dead Meat Announces Horror Short Film Competition With Theatrical Release Planned for This Halloween
Hosted by James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca, the mega popular YouTube channel Dead Meat has announced their latest project: a short film competition they call Fresh Meat.
Indiewire exclusively reveals the details this week, with the website noting that the horror short film competition will spawn an anthology feature film being unleashed in theaters!
“This is our way of finding, highlighting, and amplifying people who can do these things — who already have done them — and helping develop their ideas and make them bigger,” James A. Janisse tells the outlet. Chelsea Rebecca adds, “We’ve been there: fresh to Los Angeles, wanting to make movies, having no money. There have been countless, countless meetings to figure out the logistics of how we can make sure filmmakers are fully supported by this.”
They’re partnering with Atlas Entertainment’s Atlas Literary and Hades Film on the project, with submissions opening up Saturday, July 25, and closing Monday, August 24.
“Shorts from around the world are eligible, provided English is the submission’s primary spoken language, and a $50 submission fee applies,” Indiewire explains in their report.
How it will work is that “roughly 10 films” will be selected from the submission pile, and they’ll be put together into a feature film anthology experience. Filmmakers whose shorts are selected for the Fresh Meat anthology feature will receive a monetary award and they’ll also be given a cut of the theatrical profits. Their shorts will even be up for “first-look consideration for feature development through a joint venture between Dead Meat and Hades Films.”
The plan is to release the Fresh Meat anthology into theaters on October 12.
Head over to Indiewire to learn more about Dead Meat’s Fresh Meat competition!